How Girls Camp is DIFFERENT as a Leader

I got to go to Girls Camp this year as a leader. I had mixed feelings before leaving, but I'm so glad I went. It was a great time to get to know the girls in the ward and for them to get to know me. Quite a few girls are still saying, "Sister Dial I had no idea that's what you were like!" I told them it was because 1- I'm on summer vacation, 2- two days of camping is my limit, so I get a bit loopy after day 3, 3- I get a bit loopy when I'm running on little sleep.

Considering it's been over 10 years since I went as a YW, it hasn't changed too much. We were at Camp LoMia. My sister says I've been there before, it looked familiar but I didn't remember much else. But here are some of the best and worst parts of being a leader at Girls Camp.

1. You don't have to sing the silly camp songs. This was great when I was hungry and sick of playing the "cat and mouse" game to be able to eat. Exercised a little agency there.
2. You get to sing whatever silly camp songs you want to! All summer long, since Girls Camp, I've been teaching cousins and neices my favorite camp songs: the train one, the moose one, Taco Bell, etc.
3. You don't have to go on a hike! Yippee! The leaders left me back at the cabin to "wait for the girls." Which means, take a nap. It was pretty nice.
4. You have to be in charge of chores. However, I ran a mean crew, let me tell you. "Find a partner and pick a job, report back after it's complete for further assignment." We always got our chores done well and fast.
5. There are some girls it was really hard to leave after Girls Camp. I'm not saying anything else about that one.
6. Girls assume that because you're a cabin mom you must know all of the answers. I just went with it and made up stuff or pled the 5th as needed.
6. The Spirit is still pretty strong at Girls Camp. It's hard to describe. But Girls Camp is true! I had quite a few experiences where I felt impressed to share something with the girls that was just what they needed.

Since I was the unofficial ward photographer (I took 250 photos), I'm in about 3 of them. This is one of those. Here is our entire ward at the Bishop's Challenge. We were the largest ward at Girls Camp.